Similar to the way glaciers once steadily scraped landscapes bare and carved mountains and vales, what remains is that which may have had more integrity than the friction could take. More vulnerability and confrontation with the uncomfortable than anything like an escape, Julia Kent‘s cello work resonates with nuanced reflection navigating real-world hardships. There is no way to put on happy music in a century like this and not feel like you’re somehow lying to yourself. The composition, performance, writing and concept makes it a magical masterpiece – definitely one to experience. I have so much respect for this band, and am so humbled to share the airwaves with Cozmo D and his son DJ Dogtrane on Global Funk Radio. Electro-funk took much more of an underground passage that slid beneath the louder mainstream rap and hip-hop, yet this band was creating imaginative, innovative live electronic funk! The first album Jam On Revenge, has the hit b-boy anthem ‘Jam On It’ (with an amazing video to go along), but this second album really resonates in my soul and inspired me as a person and artist. It’s so out of this world that it’s really a mystery as to why they are so much lesser known than their flashier hip-hop counterparts. It brings out so much of the personality of the band, their originality and such a futuristic space narrative from the heydays of hip -hop. Space Is The Place, Newcleus’s second full-length album from 1985, following up from their first album Jam On Revenge in 1984, is soulful, melancholic, contemplative and upbeat at the same time. For more information on Regarding The Auguries, head to. We spoke to Bryan, Erika and Todd about some of their favourite albums and major influences. It’s spontaneous, but it was done in a kind of slow motion.” Recording this album was really collaborative – I might start an idea I’ll send it to Todd he’ll send it to Erika they’ll send it back, I’ll hear something else and we do this back and forth until we get a sound we like. “We like calling ourselves a unit – I mean, are you really a ‘band’ in the electronic music world? When I started the Alka project it was really just me and a laptop, and while I had fun with that, eventually I got bored with the process. “I think we’ve always been working towards being a more cohesive unit,” explains Bryan.
Originally a solo IDM project of Bryan Michael, Alka is now reconfigured as a trio with visual artist Erika Tele and likeminded electronic producer Todd Steponick, a line-up familiar from their pre-lockdown live shows. Philadelphia-based Alka release their fourth album, the portentously-titled Regarding The Auguries, on October 9 th through Vince Clarke’s VeryRecords.